Nancy Drew, What's That Behind You?

My mother is a huge Nancy Drew fan. When I'm out sourcing Agatha Christie books, I always check for vintage copies of the girl detective. I recently came across this gem.

Judging by the title of the book, one assumes that black blob behind Miss Drew would be a villain wearing a velvet mask. But is it? Here are another couple of possible culprits:

Suspect 1: Nancy Drew's bessie mate Bess Marvin in a berka.

Suspect 2: Ronald McDonald's sidekick with a criminal past, Grimace.

Suspect 3: Barbamama, matriarch of the Barbapapa clan.

Suspect 4: A member of the Black Block, or potentially an undercover cop masquerading as a member of the Black Block.

Suspect 5: Some dude in a terrifying inflatable gimp suit.

(No links for this one kids, this ain't that sort of blog.)

I'm sure that the actual criminal isn't nearly as interesting as any of my suggestions. Probably some mundane petty criminal, or old caretaker in disguise. Or am I thinking of Scooby Doo...

Marple: The Secret of Chimneys

A surprisingly unflattering photo of the cast of Marple: The Secret of Chimneys Copyright ITV 2010

Watching the television adaptation, Marple: The Secret of Chimneys, you have no idea of the scope of the original novel. The book The Secret of Chimneys is a thriller filled with political intrigue, romance, and vaguely sinister foreigners. In other words, the telefilm used the location, a couple of character names and nothing of the original plot or "mystery".

The cast is far too small and stretched too thin. The butler Treadwell from the book is now a housekeeper and composite of 3 other characters, cousins become sisters, politicians become love interests, and on and on. Even the picture of the "last great party" has surprisingly few guests: there are far more servants, musicians, and waiters in that photo than high society ladies and gentlemen. As a result, the atmosphere is flat and the identity of the murderer is virtually revealed before the opening credits are finished.

The jewel thief sub-plot involving Anthony Cade and Virginia Revel, the original hero and heroine of The Secret of Chimneys, is laughable. If actors Charlotte Salt and Jonas Armstrong weren't good looking the romance that develops between the two characters would be equally incomprehensible. The matrimonial machinations of the now lecherous George Lomax are just distasteful. Another unfortunate consequence of the adaptation is the introduction of a new character, Miss Hilda Blenkinstopp from a National Trust like preservation society wanting to add Chimneys to it's list of historic properties. Despite being played by the talented Ruth Jones, this character doesn't really add anything of value to the story and is blatantly necessary to shoehorn Julia McKenzie's Miss Marple into the story.

Ultimately it is the presence of Miss Marple that is the biggest problem with Marple: The Secret of Chimneys. The source material indicates the need for a detective of action, or at least a detective with a side-kick of action: Poirot or Tommy and Tuppence come to mind. At the very least the writers should have had Miss Marple's nephew Raymond present to do some heavy lifting and brawling. Really, everything that was exciting and interesting from the book had to be eliminated to turn this into a tea and crumpets caper.

Despite all this I did like Marple: The Secret of Chimneys enough. Being a fan, but not a purist, I can appreciate the Miss Marple Chimney's for what it is worth. While not up to the standard of the source material, the producers seem to have done what I feel Christie often did with her short stories: taking an idea she's already worked on (or perhaps was working on) and giving it a slight spin and looking at it in a different way. If you consider the book and the movie as being two separate but not entirely unrelated stories, you'll be mildly entertained with the results.

Star Wars Uncut

I'm not really a Star Wars geek, but when I saw the video I just had to share it. Basically, fans from around the world selected a 15 second clip from the original movie then re-filmed them. The "best" clips were then collected to recreate the original movie in its entirety. The result is hilarious. Watch it here.

Best Cover Art EVAH!

While searching for titles at used books stores I occasionally come across something so fantastic, so cool, that I just have to buy it. What could be cooler than this I ask you. The best cover art EVAH! Don't you just love those 1960's muscle men and their barbarella babes.

There were several copies at the BMV on Yonge and Eglington in Toronto. When I was making my purchase I commented on the sheer fabulousness of the cover to the guy at the cash desk and he seemed a little put out and muttered something like, "Yeah, I guess it's a little cheesy." At first I thought he might be the (apparently quite renown) author, but according to Wikipedia Keith Laumer died in 1993. Perhaps the cashier was just a really big fan.

The Big Four

I keep posting this after every round of short stories but, I'm so glad to be reading another novel. I much prefer immersing myself in a full-length mystery and not being tossed about with abrupt changes in characters, settings and style. That said, I do like the Harley Quin stories and try to savour each one of them.

I've posted the cover art of the paperback I'm reading. I don't usually read the really vintage copies, but I haven't been able to find another copy with a more stable binding and a larger typeface at any of the used bookstores in Toronto. (The print is so small I've actually considered reading the mystery with a magnifying glass.)

Before scanning this 1972 gem I removed the $1.99 price tag and discovered this copy originally retailed at 75 cents. The CHEAPEST new copy I could find was $10. That's some crazy inflation!